


Making the Effort

by BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse



Series: Heart Heart Heartbreak [9]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Engagement, Friendship, Infidelity, M/M, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1294075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse/pseuds/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's one thing to find out your boyfriend is cheating on you. It's another to find out you're the other woman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making the Effort

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a fic with Jeff Carter/Rick Nash friendship and since nobody was writing the fucking thing, I did it myself.
> 
> I love the idea of a desperate Jeff looking for friendship when he can't have Mike, whether it's because of unrequited love or distance, I just want them being friends. 
> 
> I NEED ALL THE JEFF/RICK FRIENDHSIP FICS NOW PPL. NOOOOW.

It's one thing to find out your boyfriend is cheating on you. It's another to find out you're the other woman.

Jeff can admit that when he started this thing with Mike, he wasn't quite sure where it was headed. They'd been through so much together, both being traded, finally reunited in a completely epic fashion. Winning a Stanley Cup together was their dream; and while it wasn't with the team they originally thought it was going to be with, it's great to be able to do it with guys that they now think of as family.

When they're at the peak of their celebrations, all alcohol and hands, Jeff finally let's go and kisses Mike. The thing is, Mike kissed back. There was no hesitation, no moment of thought, just an action. Jeff never would've guessed Mike was dating somebody.

One year later and here Jeff is watching Mike parade around with his fiancé.

"He proposed with a cupcake," Angela laughed, her hand curled around Mike's. "He was such a dork about it too!"

"You're just as sweet as a cupcake," Mike said in a sweet mock, laughing when Angela batted at his chest.

The team didn't know about his relationship with Mike, none of them even having a hint of their affair, but they all apparently pick up on the fact that Jeff isn't too fond of Angela.

"I know you like Mike, but you need to let it go," Brownie had told him. "We all care about both of you dude, and we don't care who you like, but Mike is happy with Angela."

Jeff had completely agreed, played it up like he was slowly getting there, slowly becoming so undeniably happy for Mike, so that no one on the team bothered him again.

No one noticed how quiet he got. How withdrawn he was or how he seemed to disappear whenever they went out after a game. His hockey was fine, he wasn't crying, Mike hadn't noticed anything, so why would he not be okay? Surely Mike would notice if anything was going on with Jeff. But he didn't, too busy ignoring his affair and paying as much attention to his fiancé as he could afford.

Jeff doesn't get to talk to anyone about it. Everyone is so happy for Mike, even Jeff's family, and apparently, Jeff became so accustomed to hiding his feelings for Mike when they were sleeping together that when it comes to heartbreak, he's a 'hiding-your-feelings' master. Nobody expects a thing.

Except Nash. Fucking Rick Nash, of all people, is the first, and only, one to ask him about it.

They're playing the Rangers, the last game in a four game road trip. They win by the skin of their teeth, a 1-0 game, when Rick Nash asks to talk to him after the post game scrum. He agrees, because why not, and is one of the first guys out of the visitors' locker room.

He doesn't know his way around Madison Square Garden, years with the Flyers seemingly so long ago, but Rick finds him before Jeff can even begin worrying about it.

"I heard about Mike's engagement," Rick starts as soon as they're in a deserted room.

"Yeah, seems like everybody has," Jeff replies, not even trying to hold back his bitterness.

"I thought you two were a thing," Rick says casually, sitting down in a chair.

Jeff doesn't reply at first, uncertainty in what Rick meant by 'a thing', but shrugs and takes a seat in a nearby chair before replying, "So did I."

Rick doesn't talk after that, doesn't ask Jeff to talk after that, just sits in his chair in silence.

It brings back a memory, Jeff realizes. When he first heard the news of his trade to Columbus, seemingly forever ago, when Rick showed up, doing his best to coax Jeff out of his angry stupor. Lines of half truths about how great Columbus is, how well he'll fit in. He hadn't gotten Jeff to talk, not at first, and he eventually had just shown up for a few hours, stayed silent, a match of stubbornness and will power. He'd leave and then show up again, sometimes with coffee or Gatorade and sometimes with sandwiches or any other type of food that caught his fancy. Jeff hated Columbus, not for who they were, but for what they represented. He never could hate Rick, though. Rick who didn't even know him. Rick who congratulated him on his trade to Los Angeles. Rick who told him to stay in touch, but never called asking why Jeff cut off all contact.

Here Rick was, once again, staying silent and waiting for Jeff. Waiting for Jeff to open up or stay closed. Just sitting there in a comfortable silence as Jeff's thoughts are in turmoil.

"Thank you," Jeff says, after a lifetime of silence.

Rick smiles, a charming thing with too much teeth, and nods. He stands up, stretching his sore limbs, and puts his hands in his pockets.

"You better go back soon," Rick replies, heading for the door. He unlocks it and glances back at Jeff. "I mean it this time; stay in touch. Okay?"

"Yeah," Jeff says softly, "I will. Still have my number?"

"Always," Rick laughs. "You?"

"Always," Jeff jokes, watching Rick leave with a chuckle.

Nobody was there for him, not even Mike, during the whole shitty thing. He had to go through it alone, hurting and in incredible stress, as he watched Mike commit himself to a girl he had cheated on with Jeff.

But for a brief moment, a single moment in his heartbreaking tale, Rick had reached out, offered something, anything, for Jeff to have. He gave Jeff the chance to have someone. And while Jeff turned it down, too stubborn and bull-headed, he still made the effort.

For the first time in a long time, Jeff smiled a truly genuine smile.

**Author's Note:**

> surprisingly still fuckyoucanada on tumblr.


End file.
